Given how Pokemon Go has kicked up controversy around how it uses public sites of memory and conscience, without in any way considering if it is appropriate to do so, I figured I would pull together some quotes and links and open this up as a point for discussion about the broader issues it opens up. I also, figured I would provide some quotes and links from work we have covered over time about augmented reality games and history too.
Various mobile games and apps have mobilized historical place data but none have come to this level of use and activity. So I do think the Pokemon Go craze provides an opportunity to think through some of the issues that hadn’t really come out already with these technologies when they weren’t reaching the scale that this game has.
So I’ve pulled together links to some of the conversations about this in the press and some posts from Play the Past about augmented reality. Please consider talking through the issues this raises for public history and memory in the comments.